


More than Willing

by Rae_chan



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Depression, F/M, Mental Health Issues, Original Character(s), Self-Harm, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 04:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2095467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rae_chan/pseuds/Rae_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when an exchange student from Canada is sent to Inaba? well getting roped into a murder case for one, and making some interesting, but genuine friends, for another.<br/>For the purposes of understandability, assume the characters are speaking Japanese, unless otherwise noted.<br/>Follows Canon series of events, but of course deviates for own story purposes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Inaba

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so first chapter, gonna get a few things straight, Time line will not make sense probably and cultural/social mechanics may or may not be way wrong. This first chapter has a couple stupid "english lessons" which are kinda weird and not likely very helpful. I wrote this kinda for myself mostly, but this community seems pretty good so I decided to share my own neurotic brand of fan fiction with the internet.
> 
> Warnings and tags are mostly right, but if you can't stand self harm, or don't want to read about self destructive behavior in general, than this might not be for you.
> 
> Sorry for crappy formatting -_-'

“Are you a transfer student too?” asked the girl in the green jacket.  
“No, I’m an exchange student,” The new student told her amicably.  
“Oh wow, but why so late?” the girl in the red sweater asked curiously.  
“I, Uh, was a little late with my passport, so I couldn’t come right away,” she admitted.  
“Where you from?” came a voice from behind her. She looked back to see a kid with headphones slung around his neck as well as another boy who seemed, for the most part, unremarkable.  
“Canada, I’ve always wanted to come see Japan, and even though my Japanese is a little choppy, as I’m sure you guys can tell, I will try my best to learn.” She repeated what she had said in her introduction this morning, of course she had to be corrected by the teacher a bunch of times, but she never could seem to form a sentence in front of a crowd even in english.  
“Your Japanese isnt so bad,” the other boy remarked quietly.  
“Yeah, but hey, I’ll help you with your Japanese if you’ll help me with english?” The headphoned boy grinned patting her on the shoulder  
“Ignore him, he’d rather goof off than actually do work, you would end up basically doing his homework for him. you should study with Yuu or Yukiko, they at least study on a regular basis,” the green jacket girl called him out.  
“Oh come on Chie, like your any better,” The boy pouted.  
“Hey, at least I ask Yukiko to help me, unlike you, who waits to try and study everything in the last week before exams,” Chie shot back at him.  
“Yosuke is a bit of a slacker,” Yuu mentioned thoughtfully, “But I’m sure we would all be willing to help you adjust.”  
“Yeah, where are you staying anyway?” Yosuke asked having recovered from his shame.  
“Er,” She bit her lip, “I don’t remember where it is…” she hung her head groaning, “I got a ride today cause I got up late and I was so focussed on Caasan’s scolding I forgot to pay attention to the route she took…”  
“That’s okay, do you remember where its close to?” Yukiko offered.  
“Uhh, I think its on the other side of the river, I seem to remember a shopping centre nearby,” she contemplated.  
“Oh, hey, thats close to where I live!” Chie exclaimed, “We can walk home together and I can help you find it,”  
“Thank you, its pretty embarrasing getting lost in such a small town,” she sighed.  
“It’s not that big of a deal, your new, I got lost a few times in my first little while here,” Yuu admitted.  
“I guess,” she said automatically in english, then realising her mistake from the confused looks on her classmates faces, she resumed japanese, “So sorry! I still need to get the hang of speaking only in japanese,”  
“That’s okay,” Yukiko said, “I think you just used a colloquial that we have yet to learn,”  
“oh, this ones just a simple shortened phrase for “I guess you are right,” and usually it’s used as a way to indicate incomplete agreement.” she explained.  
“I might have to get you to repeat that explanation to the class tomorrow during english, Lehner-san,” The english teacher mentioned as she passed by their desks.  
“Lehner-san, thats a peculiar surname,” Yosuke mentioned.  
“I think you forget, I’m not japanese,” she said a twinge of annoyance in her voice.  
“I hear Canada is a pretty diverse country with plenty of european origins,” Yukiko said matter of factly.  
“Yeah, Lehner is a German surname, and some of my fairly extended family on my paternal line lives there.” She explained.  
“That is pretty cool, but kinda hard to wrap my mouth around, whats your given name, if you don’t mind us calling you by it,” yosuke asked, almost politely.  
“Rachel, but if you guys find that too much of a mouthful, than Rae will work fine too,” She told them.  
“Rae is nice and easy,” Yuu remarked, “It suits you,”  
“Sounds a little masculine don’t you think?” Chie blurted.  
“I guess it would sound that way to you guys, seeing as for you guys, it’s spelt R-e-i which is for the most part a masculine name, but back home, It can be spelt R-a-e which is more feminine, but cause english is weird, they sound the same.” She told them.  
“That is pretty weird, are a lot of english words like that?” Yukiko piped up.  
“Yeah, english is really weird and has roots in half a dozen languages, and letters can make different sounds in different words. as far as I’ve gathered, japanese at the basic level, all the letters are pronounced the same, but when put together can make different sounds.” Rae contemplated, “I guess its sort of the same in english, but there are so many exceptions that you can never really say for sure.”

After their improptu english lesson, the four classmates decided to take Rae to the Junes. She followed them, but often got distracted and began to fall behind. She did not appear to be paying attention which gave the group a chance to chat. However she only really feigned her lack of attention, atleast in situations like this where she knew it to be assumed of her. no use proving people wrong, when she could hear such interesting things. Though the beginning rain cut out some of their conversation, a few things still reached back to her.  
“Looks like its time to check out the midnight channel, see if we can figure out who’s next,”  
“I dunno, I almost hope it doesn’t come on tonight, maybe the killer will take a break,”  
‘Killer?,’ she thought, ‘I wonder what they could possibly be up to, that would involve a killer,’  
“It’s possible, the rain is supposed to stick around for a few days, so I’m sure we have that long to figure things out.”  
She doesn’t like how criptic they are being, but she shrugs it off cause they don’t exactly know her yet, so it is unlikely they trust her at all.  
They arrive at the Junes and go sit at one of the canopied tables in the food court to stave off the rain.  
Yosuke explained how he had moved here cause his dad got hired as the store manager here, and that its probably like any other department store. Rae nodded and asked what food was good.  
“Steak!” Chie cheered.  
“I like tofu,” Yukiko said.  
“I could get you something, a treat for coming all this way,” Yosuke offered. Rae nodded and he walked off to one of the food windows.  
“Why did you come here anyway,” Chie asked suddenly, “I mean I imagine exchange students usually go to tokyo or one of the other big cities. I didn’t even know we accepted exchange students at our school,”  
“Uh, I’m not actually sure why, I think I was looking for something a little smaller, and a country town seemed to offer relative quiet as well,” Rae said sheepishly, “as silly as it sounds I wanted the slow easy pace, cause I already know big city life and its great and all, but it gets exhausting.”  
“I understand,” Yuu conceded.  
“I don’t really,” Yosuke said coming back and shoving a plate of dough-ball looking things on a stick in front of her, “I miss the city.”  
“In any case, we’re glad to have you,” Yukiko smiled, “You should eat your dango before it gets soggy,”  
Rae nodded and popped one in her mouth, in stead of dough, she found them to actually be rice. these ones had a bit of fish in the middle. She liked it and decided she liked these kids too.  
“Uh, you hear about whats been going on lately?” Yuu asked.  
“Not really, all they told me was that the police were looking into something and to cooperate with them, whether that means answering questions or staying out of trouble, I dunno,” Rae shrugged.  
“I guess they didn’t warn her…” Yukiko sighed.  
“Wait, is this something I should worry about,” Rae asked seriously  
“Yeah, probably,” Yosuke said, “There have been a couple murders in the area, and the police are baffled.”  
“Wow, uh, guess that means I have to be careful than.” Rae sighed, “By the way, can you point my towards the washroom?” Yosuke stood and gave her the directions. 

As she was coming back from the washroom, she ran into a man coming around a corner. he turned around and she saw he had a microphone and his buddies had camera equipment.  
“Oh excuse me,” she bowed politely and went to go past them when the guy she had bumped into stopped her.  
“Aren’t you the exchange student?” He asked  
“Uh yeah,” she said, then noticing the red blinking light she became nervous, “Wait are you interviewing me?”  
“Yeah, I’m sure a lot of people would be interested to hear why an american student would choose to come to the boonies of Japan.” he explained, though the wording made it sound like a headline.  
“Canadian… I’m Canadian, not American.” She corrected automatically, “And there really isn’t much to it other than I wanted to find a quiet place to study for a year,”  
“There has to be some other reason, you look like a pretty big city girl, are you perhaps not smart enough for the big highschools?”  
“Hell no, my grades are just fine,” she said beginning to get annoyed, “Now if you will excuse me,” she tried to walk past him and leave, but he stepped into her path again.  
“Maybe you are running away from something?” he tried again.  
“I ain’t runnin’ from nuthin’,” she barked in english, “Now leave me alone or I will deck you,”  
“What did she say?” the reporter asked the sound guy  
“She said-”  
“I said I was going to deck you if you don’t back off,” she said coldly.  
“Geez, I don’t think we even need to ask, at this point I think it was probably a discipline problem,” he sneered and walked off. She stood there seething, really wanting to yell somthing else at them or tackle the one guy, but she restrained herself. She looked up and saw her friends staring, they looked worried. she put her mouth into a smile,  
“I’m fine guys, really, I think I’m gonna head home, I remember the way.” she turned back around the corner and broke into a run.

“Wow, she really got mad at those reporters,” Chie said.  
“They really do deserve it,” Yukiko added, “They love to pull at every nerve they can find to get a story.”  
“I hope she get’s home okay,” Yuu spoke up, “Maybe I should go follow and make sure,”  
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Yosuke said holding Yuu by the shoulder, “She probably doesn’t know the way home, but she needs her space so let’s just let her figure things out on her own.”  
“I live pretty close to her, so me and Yukiko can check her house just in case.” Chie offered.  
“Okay,” Yuu sat back down.


	2. Mind games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is likely to be one of the scariest chapters, and the most disturbing, warnings and tags are very applicable to this chapter. 
> 
> This is the chapter where my character is unknowingly thrown into the tv, and the investigation team has to face the challenge of rescuing her, though it turns out to be much harder on them then they think
> 
> Again, Warnings for graphic violence, self harm, and disturbing content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While this chapter is relatively personal to me, not all of the content is based in reality and as such is written based on my twisted imagination.

“Dammit, I thought I got away from crap like this when I got thrown here,” Rae muttered to herself, “Guess I got set up though, an exchange student wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal in the big city, but here, every time people see me, they know who I am,” 

Later that night she was featured on the news, they aired most of the interview, and her outburst even got sub titled. It looked like they probably went to the school and looked up her papers, cause they clarified as an after thought that it wasn’t behavioral problems, but a financial issue.   
“That probably explains why she was pretty cagey about the issue,” the reporters voice said, “No one likes to admit that they aren’t doing well for themselves,” she gritted her teeth and excused herself from the room and went up to the spare room she was occupying for the year. It wasn’t really that big, but the futon was nice and comfortable, and there was a nice couch and a small tv in the room as well. she enjoyed staying up and reading on that couch until the early hours of the morning. she rarely turned the tv on though, since there werent many programs she really could follow. She was pretty tired from her first day of school, so she went right to bed.

A school the next couple of days she was bombarded by a mix of worried glances and outright curious stares, and though she tried to block them out she could still hear their whispers. most of them wondered about how little money she really had, but others speculated on her outburst.   
“Its a good thing they subtitled it, im shit at english, but wow she really flew off the handle,”  
“No wonder she was sent here,”  
“Ignore them,” a hand settled on her shoulder and she turned to find Yuu  
“That’s a little hard,” she grumbled, “This is just as bad as back home…”   
“You alright?” Yosuke asked as she entered the classroom  
“Not really, I can’t believe they actually put me on the news,” She grumbled, “Whats worse is now everyone stares,”  
“Ignore them, I always do,” He shrugged, “Being the Junes managers son isnt all glamour,”   
“Your not the first person to tell me that, ignoring it doesnt make it go away,” She muttered  
“I know it doesn’t, I just thought… oh never mind,” he shook his head, “It’s a small town condition, news travels fast and people get bored easily, which means they’ll have new gossip in no time,”  
“I guess so,” she sighed as the teacher strode in.

After class on her fourth day, she walked home with Chie and Yukiko. the talked about various things like the boys and classes, though she noticed their glances.  
“Its okay, I have a short temper that’s all,” She established. she had finally snapped at King Moron for bringing up the interview yet again, he began berating her even further and when she began to talk back, she got dragged to the faculty office. once there she ended up sitting stubbornly in silence until Mr. Morooka stormed off and the more sympathetic history teacher allowed her to pull up to a desk to do homework or read until next period where she would be teaching Rae’s class.   
“It’s not that, your just being awfully quiet and although we don’t really know you too well yet, were a bit worried,” Yukiko said   
“I may not know you, but I know how it feels to be picked on. it may not be entirely openly, but its obvious enough that it stings,” Chie told her.  
“It doesn’t really bother me, I’ve been picked on before,” she told them, ‘kids are cruel and the adults are blind and often just as cruel.”   
They walked and she tried to input into conversation a bit more to avoid any more awkward talk. 

When they got to her place she waved and went inside. Her Caa-san had started dinner and it smelled pretty good.   
“I’m home,” she announced her self, “What you making,”  
“I’m making Mako-kuns favorite, spiced sour pork,” She replied. Mako-kun was her grown up son who was a landscaper in Hokkaido, he wasn’t married, but he had left home at a young age to chase after a girl who ended up being less than good news. he ended up staying where he was and so his parents decided to open their home to visitors. at first they had wanted to adopt, but they didn't have the money for it at the time, so they decided to check out exchange students and transfer students. they payed a bit of money for the certification but after that they actually earned money from housing the students.

They ate dinner with the tv on and Caa-san and Tou-san chatted about their day. when Rae was done, she cleaned up her dishes and went to go to her room, when she heard a knock on the door.  
“I’ll get it,” she called, and she went to the door. peering out the peephole showed nothing, so she opened the door. It was getting dark out and there appeared to be some kind of package on the ground. she went to grab it when someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth. she barely had time to struggle before she blacked out.

“It was her, but how?” Yosuke puzzled, “She’s female so she fits that part of the profile, but there is no way that she’s at all involved with the Yamano case,”  
“Well, regardless of what the pattern would suggest, shes gone,” Chie reminded him.  
“We stopped by her house after school and the couple she lives with said she left pretty suddenly last night saying she heard a knock at the door. They figured maybe she was with a friend, but when she didn’t come home they phoned the police,” Yukiko recounted.  
Yuu added, “Yeah my uncle was grumbling about that earlier, something about ‘rotten exchange students, thinking they’re still back home where they can do whatever they want’”   
“that’s pretty harsh, even for our favorite detective,” Yosuke nodded.  
“I don’t really care what anybody says, we should save her,” Chie insisted  
“Yeah, maybe then we can find the truth,” Yuu said in his regular criptic manner.  
The four of them decided to go into the tv that afternoon and see if Rae was there.  
“But wait a second, the picture was still blurry last night at midnight,” Yukiko realised.  
“It was clear enough to see her, but I guess we can ask teddy before we jump to conclusions.” Yosuke agreed.

“Nobody here but me and all the beary scary shadows,” Teddy shook his head.  
“but…” Chie protested, but Yosuke stopped her.  
“maybe Dojima was right, maybe she really did just run off,” he tried, “I know I don’t blame her, all those stares and whispers get to you. after a while you want nothing but to run away,”  
“It’s still raining in our world, so lets check the midnight channel for sure,” Yuu suggested. they all noded and left the TV and Teddie.

The TV in front of Yuu flickered to life. The girl on the screen was wearing regular clothes, but she seemed translucent to the background. She was infront of a creepy house.  
“Hello everyone, I think you’ll enjoy this thrilling and twisted game. Mystery and intriuge await you, but there is a catch,” Rae winked, then she seemed to spilt into two, “There are two of us,” they said together their actions mirrored.   
“I challenge you to find me, but be sure not to,” they giggled at each other than leaned close to the camera, “look right through me,” then they vanished from view before her voice rang out once more, though this time it sounded like five of her, “Welcome to the haunted house of mirrors!”   
the TV switched off and Yuu’s phone rang.  
“Yo, that was pretty weird, two shadows?” Yosuke mused on the other end.  
“That last bit sounded like more,” Yuu stated,  
“I hope not, but I guess we just gotta go and find out,” and with that yosuke hung up.

The next day when they all went into the TV, Teddie asked for information on Rae, which they had gotten enough from their initial meeting for Teddie to pinpoint her. 

“Man, this house is even creepier up close…” Yukiko murmered.  
“No kidding, but I guess we gotta go in,” Yuu sounded stoically sure, but his stiffness betrayed his nerves.  
“Uh, guys, does anybody else feel like they’re being watched,” Yosuke hissed  
“Now that you mention it-” Chie said, then stopped abruptly, raising a finger to point behind the rest of the group. They all turned around slowly.  
“Boo!” cried a pale, transparent Rae. they all screamed and dashed into the house. 

“There are mirrors everywhere,” Chie gasped  
“Haunted house of Mirrors, Chie?” Yosuke reminded her. She stuck her tongue out at him.  
Yukiko strode over to peer into one of them, “Creepy,” she muttered.  
“What is it?” Yuu asked.  
“My reflection in this mirror, it’s my Shadow self…” She eyed it as the yellow eyed princess Yukiko grinned back at her. Yuu stepped up beside her, but nothing appeared, as if nothing was there at all.  
“Whoa bro, don’t tell me you’re a vampire!” Yosuke joked.   
“No, I’ve just never encountered my shadow,” Yuu stated.  
“I think all the mirrors here are like that,” Chie said, as she peeked into each.   
“I want to see my Shadow!” Teddie squealed, but then looked disappointed when it was blank  
“It’s okay Teddie, you have’nt met your shadow either,” Yuu nodded encouraginly at him.  
“Thank you Sensei! you always know what to say to a bear,” Teddie cheered.  
“My mirrors display both truths and lies,” a voice came from the mirror Yukiko stood at, “Can you tell which is which?” Rae’s ghost form suspended in the mirror image grinned, but when Yukiko spun around to face her, she wasn’t there.   
“I don’t like this,” she groaned under her breath.  
“We need to be careful, This shadow seems trickier than any other we have faced. If its anything like the others though, we have to find the real her before she will actually attack us.” Yosuke recounted.  
“It’s still a little off-putting, seeing as she can appear and disappear at will.” Yukiko said uneasily.  
Chie put a hand on her friends shoulder before they began to traverse the halls, their shadow selves following them silently through the mirrors.

“These ones are different,” Chie smiled, as the enlarged mirror showed Tomoe as her reflection, “Yuu, maybe this one will give you a better view,”  
Yuu stepped up to the mirror, but quickly stepped back, his eyes wide in shock.  
“What is it?” Yosuke asked, but when Yuu continued to stare into the mirror, Yosuke stepped in front of him, “Yuu?”  
“My head hurts,” He groaned and closed his eyes, then just barely audibly murmered, “Too many,” With his head clutched in his hands, he sunk to the ground.  
“Hey, what’s wrong,” Chie crouched down beside him, “Are you okay?” Yuu shook his head.  
“Uh guys! There are shadows!” Teddie exclaimed. Everyone but Yuu jumped up and summoned their personas  
“Yuu! summon Izanagi!” Yosuke called out as Jiraya initiated an attack to distract the shadows. But Yuu stayed on the ground.  
“Oh no, Sensei is paralysed with Fear!” Teddie exclaimed.  
“Dammit, guys we have to protect Yuu,” Yosuke relayed to the girls. they both nodded and kept an eye out for any stray shadows. They managed to take out the three that had popped up, but Teddie warned them that more were likely on their way. They stared down at Yuu who would not move for where he was, though he had shifted from being on his knees, to sitting on the floor with his elbows resting stiffly upon them.   
“Yuu,” Yukiko tried, “We have to get up,” He appeared not to hear her, nor any of their protests.  
Eventually Yosuke got tired of trying to talk him up, so he went around behind him and hooked his arms under Yuu’s armpits and attempted to pull him up, Yukiko and Chie helped and with some convincing, they got Yuu standing with Yosuke on one side and Yukiko on the other. He had closed his eyes tightly and refused to open them. They carefully, but quickly guided him through the halls. Chie looked into the mirrors as they passed seeing what looked like Tomoe leading Jiraiya and Konohana following with a dark presence obscured between them. Chie doubted they could see what he did, but it was obviously pretty bad to make him that terrified. She looked at him, his head was bowed at this point, but his eyes were still squeezed shut and he looked pale.  
“come on guys, I really think we should find the stairs soon, Yuu isn’t looking too good.” she urged them. After dispatching a few more shadows they managed to find the stairs and drag Yuu up them.   
“someone needs to check the mirrors here,” Yukiko suggested, “Yosuke?”  
“Okay, I guess I can,” he said before they gently lowered Yuu onto the ground. He stepped up to the mirrors and sighed, “It’s cool, it just my monster shadow self.”  
“Ugh, as much as I would rather not be reminded, I guess that isn’t a bad deal.” Chie grumbled.   
Yuu shook his head and stood unsteadily. He staggered over to the mirror, in which he saw nothing.   
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Rae had a crooked smile on her mouth, but her eyes were calculating and trained on Yuu. When he shot her a glare, and growled a little, she only laughed and approached him, “I didn’t realise your truth would effect you so badly,”   
“Shut up,” he barked roughly. She laughed again and vanished.  
“Yuu…” Yosuke said reaching for his friend, but Yuu shook him off and began running, “Dammit,” and the others ran after him. They caught up a minute later finding him attempting to hold of four Shadows by himself. They jumped in and helped to try and finish them off. One of them caught Yuu off guard and knocked him over. Chie jumped in and Tomoe drop kicked it and its fissled out of existance. Chie offered her hand to help Yuu up, and after a few seconds he took it. She noticed how worn down he looked, no where near his regular composed to the point of clueless demeanor.   
“Sensei?” Teddie came up, “What is the matter Sensei?”  
“Nothing…” He even brushed Teddie off, leaving Teddie with a dejected look on his face. They followed him silently and ascended to the next level.

Yuu stepped right up to the mirror with his eyes closed and slowly peeked through and gasped at what he saw. Nanako was displayed looking terrified and Yuu then realised that was what he must look like to his friends. he turned back to them and back to the mirror. He touched his hand to the glass and Nanakos small hand met his. He sighed and a small smile flickered on his face. The rest of them stepped forward. Yosuke immediatly looked downcast when the image on the other side of the mirror was Saki. but for the girls things were a little confusing. Chie’s reflection was Yukiko and Yukiko’s reflection was Chie.  
“The people we most care about,” Yuu finally spoke up. Yosuke merely shook his head but complied when they progressed.  
“Hey Ted, are we getting any closer?” Chie said as they traversed a particularily long hall way.   
“I can’t tell too well, I think we’ve got a few more floors to go,” Teddie replied.   
“or so you think,” came a disembodied whisper as the corridor sloped downward. Yuu stopped dead, refusing to regress. But a quick tug from Yukiko and a push from Teddie made him continue, though it made him visually uneasy. They went down for a short while, before reaching a long set of stairs.   
The reached the new floor and decided it might be better not to look into the mirrors, that maybe they could just progress. That is until their first turn led to an immediate and mirrored dead end. They had all frozen and none of them moved. Their reflections were pretty grisly depictions of them, they were all dead. Yuu was the first to recover as he swallowed back the bile creeping into his throat.   
“Izanagi…” He called weakly. His persona appeared between him and the image and caught him as Yuu’s legs gave out again. Izanagi gently lifted each of his friends into his arms and walked away from the dead end.  
“Keep going…” Yuu said his voice thin. Chie was crying, Yukiko had passed out, and Yosuke had taken on a condition unlike what had afflicted Yuu on the second floor. Teddie continued to walk, as he did’nt seem to see anything in any of the mirrors. It seemed the effects were for their detriment only. Eventually they reached the stairs and Izanagi ascended them and once up on the next floor he began setting the teenagers onto the ground, then he disappeared at Yuu’s word.   
Yuu first went to Yukiko and took out a Revival bead. He drew out her Persona and offered the bead to it. Konohana took the bead and crushed it, sprinkling the dust over Yukiko. When she stirred, Konohana surrounded her and appeared to comfort her. Chie was still crying, so he drew out her persona too and left Tomoe to console her. Yosuke had already brought out jiraiya and was sitting on the ground with its hand on his back and his head resting on his drawn up knees.  
Yuu went to sit alone, thinking about bringing out a persona himself, but none of the ones he had seemed particularily comforting, apart from Izanagi, but he needed to rest, so Yuu found a wall and summoned Izanagi. It sat down against the wall and patted the space beside it. When Yuu drew closer and sat, Izanagi pulled him closer and sheilded him with his coat and arm. Yuu seeing the privacy he had let his tears begin to fall. He was scared out of his wits and he desperatly wanted to leave and never return. But if he didn’t, who would save that girl who didn’t even have a real home here in Inaba. At least he had found a home with Nanako and Dojima. Her family all lived across the ocean. He found himself leaning heavily into Izanagi and chose to bury his face into his persona. Izanagi squeezed him a bit with his arm, but seemed to be acting very gently and slowly with him, versus the brutal quickness with which he slaughtered shadows. Yuu relaxed until he heard the chilling two voices in tandem.   
“So you made through,” they said, “Mostly,” casting their eyes upon the weakened state of everyone, “How does everyone like my mirrors?”  
“S-Shut up,” Yukiko was the one to speak up, “This is cruel, showing us things like that.”  
“Oh, but I thought you guys wanted the truth,” the one said, “Though I guess it doesnt help if you fixate on the lies,” the second looked over to where Izanagi stood in front of Yuu. she glided over and through Izanagi and stopped infront of Yuu.   
“Crying is okay, in fact we encourage it, it will make you feel,” the voice distorted, “SO MUCH BETTER,” Yuu whipped around but before he knew it, Yosuke and Yukiko were gone. Chie however had stayed with him.   
“What did you do!” Chie called through her tears, “Where are they!”  
“I graciously teleported you to the next floor,” she chuckled then vanished.  
The two of them looked around and noticed that on this floor, there was only mirrors on one side of the hall. 

Yosuke and Yukiko woke with a start and found themselves moving. but unable to control them selves.  
“What the hell?” Yosuke grunted as he was forced to step forward.  
“Be a good mirror,” her voice only swept into the room.  
“Yosuke look,” Yukiko had moved over to the mirrors on the one side of the hall and was pointing at something. Yosuke didn’t exactly get a chance to think before he was looking and rushing over anyway.   
“Holy shit…”

Yuu rushed over to the mirror Chie was pointing to and jolted in surprise. instead of their own reflections, Yosuke and Yukiko were on the other side.  
“Yukiko!” Chie cried and ran to the mirror, Yuu noticed breifly that though Yosuke and Yukiko seemed to mirror their movements, their expressions seemed strained and they were talking at different times.  
“Chie,” a faint version of Yukikos voice came from the mirror, “Were stuck and we can’t move except when you do,”  
“What?” Chie gasped, then raised her arm and lowered it, When Yukiko did exactly the same at the same moment she jumped back, causing Yukiko to do the same. Yuu walked slowly up to the mirror and stood infront of it  
“This isn’t so bad, but regardless we need to get her and get out before it kills us too,” Yuu said flatly  
“This place does seem to be draining you guy’s energy faster than usual. This shadow must be pretty powerful.” Teddie remarked, but he seemed only to reside on the side with Yuu.  
A voice chose that moment to speak, but unlike the rest, this one was clear and singular, “Welcome to the inside of my head,” She sounded like she was in pain, but Teddie made note that it couldn’t be any more than a couple more floors till they reached her.   
‘I wonder what she meant,’ Yuu thought as he and Chie progressed, Yosuke and Yukiko in the mirror, not really having any choice to move on.

“So this is what my head looks like,” Rae mused.  
“Well of course, its exactly what you think it is,”  
“Still a haunted house certianly is fitting, though not sure why mirrors, I’m not much for mirrors,”  
“Thats a laugh, you may hate what you see but you just keep on looking, after all, how better to catalogue your flaws,” Rae sent a look at the shadow who merely shrugged,  
“You know they are coming for you, despite how simply deplorable this place is, though I’m not sure how they will handle the last floor, hehehe,” the other shadow chuckled.  
“Let them come, Though I’m not really too sure I want them too.”  
“We can stop them if you wish it, though who are we kidding, you would rather them come swooping in to save you, you thrive on their concern not because you deserve it, because you don’t, but you enjoy getting to hate yourself openly.”   
“tch, Don’t you think I know that, what was it you said, ‘We are you, and you are us,’?”  
the shadows shrugged and vanished again.

the next floor reversed the last floor, this time Yuu and Chie were unable to move at their own will. the difference this time was there were shadows. The shadows were weird untill they all noticed that the shadows werent mirrored, but seperate. they summoned their personas but they soon realised they would have to play things carefully, cause regardless of who got hit and on what side, they both felt it and would go flying. another difficulty was the difference in style of their personas, when Jiraiya would go to throw his kunai, Izanagi would fling his sword. luckily, when magic was used, they used their own type. so they resorted to that and despite the resistances they managed to chip away at the enemies until they dissolved. Yosuke got Jiraiya to assist Izanagi with retreiving his sword before they allowed their personas back into their hearts.  
“That was ridiculous,” Yosuke grumbled, “We really do need to get out and soon,”  
“Is no one else kinda worried about the last voice we heard,” Yukiko piped up  
“Yeah,” Yuu agreed, “I think it was the real her,”  
“What? But shouldn’t she be trying to get away from the shadows, or try to repress them?” Chie gasped.  
“Repress us?” the mirrored shadows asked, “Why ever would she do that?”  
“Because your her hidden self, aren’t you,” Yuu asked.  
“Well yes, she does her best, but she certianly doesn’t ignore us and deny us,” They grinned.  
“I guess it’s easier to accept when no ones around,” Yosuke snarled, “You hear that!”  
“I hear you loud and clear,” Rae said coming around the corner in front of them, they couldn’t tell which side she was on though, “Maybe I’m tired of no one seeing the real me, Maybe I want someone to see the roiling demons in my head.” She looked exhausted.  
“Then why don’t you let us take you back,” Yuu tried gently, but that was hard, being stuck in the agressive stance Yosuke had adopted.  
She glanced up at the Shadows, then back down at them, and turned to leave. A dark chuckle escaped the Shadows as they vanished with her.   
The kids dashed around the corner only to find the stairs.

up on the next floor they found themselves free to move as individuals. They glanced warily at the mirror sitting before them. None of them wanted to approach it for fear of what it would show.  
“If we don’t go look, then It will make us,” Yuu concluded. They all approached it and were relieved, It was them, but they were younger. They stood there wondering what this meant. when dark shadows coalesced behind their mirror selves. behind Yuu stood a shadowy teenage boy, behind Chie stood a big dog, behind Yukiko stood an older woman, and behind Yosuke stood a group of children. what happened next was startling. each of the shadows attacked their child selves and they felt it. Yuu was being grabbed and held down and he could feel a knife against his skin, Chie was being bittin and scratched, Yukiko was also being beaten but it was a lot more savage, and Yosuke was being swarmed by the children and kicked. It progressed for a minute then it was over as quickly as it had begun. They struggled and looked back to the mirrors, but in stead of their own selves, Rae stood there, four versions of her, scarred and bruised as they were right now.  
Yuu painfully pushed himself up and coughed, his hand and face were bleeding, “Thats was bad…” He allowed a persona Card to float down into his hand and crushed it, summoning Sarasvati, “Media,” he commanded and she cast the healing spell over all of them. He repeated it until they were all able to stand. What didn’t change was the drained fear on their faces.  
“We have to go,” He groaned, “We have to do this together,”   
“Why,” Yosuke groaned, holding his chest and sides  
“She obviously doesn’t want to leave,” Chie was still on the ground trembling  
“But,” Yuu continued, “She does, that look, the one she threw at the shadows,”  
“She won’t deny them, there isn’t a point,” Yukiko whispered, standing awkwardly around her bruises.  
“But she’ll die,” Yuu insisted.  
“if we stay any longer, we are going to die, and if we leave, we aren’t coming back for anything,” Yukiko said louder.  
“That’s the point,” He pushed.  
“Maybe that is what she wants,” Yosuke said coldly  
“How can you say that,” Chie was the one to protest, “we can’t let her kill herself,” She stood and walked over beside Yuu.   
“Yukiko, please, we can’t let her,” she pleaded, and Yukiko stood without a word and went over and clung to Chie. Yosuke looked at all of them with a sour look on his face, then he yelled and slammed the ground with his fist and then got up. 

They mounted the stairs and came up to a large door. they opened it and entered to find a simple room. a large chair sat across from them and in it sat Rae, her eyes were closed and they noticed she was bruised and scarred and bleeding.   
“So you decided to come after all,” the shadows came out, but something was different, they were solid and one wore a shirt and pants, the other a nice blouse and a skirt, “We’ve been waiting,”   
“What did you do to her,” Yuu demanded,  
“We did nothing, she did that herself,” they grinned as a dark shape grew out from behind her. She was lifted from the chair seemingly by nothing, until they noticed the glimmer of strings. the dark shape grew into a crosslegged faceless being with three arms that held onto puppet apparatusses. one lifted Rae’s limp form and the others led to the two shadows, who no longer appeared like her, but looked instead like a bloodied princess with ice in her hair and a magician with his gloves on fire. Rae’s body became surrounded by swirling rings of shadow that were tinted red.  
“Holy shit, I guess she denied it after all,” Yosuke scoffed.  
Her eyes flew open, “I didn’t,” her voice sounded mechanical, “I chose to blur my senses to them by creating my own pain.” Chie looked like she was going to be sick and Yukiko had paled significantly.   
“That isn’t right!” Yuu shouted to the surprise of his friends, “You are denying it! Maybe not within the confines of your own mind, but you hide it, out there in the real world,”   
“It doesn’t matter, you can’t possibly understand,” she said her voice taking a more beaten sounding tone, “You guys call these Shadows my other self, but if you haven’t already noticed, I am clearly connected to it,”   
“You are controlled by it, which is why we never see it, it hides itself.” Yuu returned, “I-I don’t really have nothing to hide,”  
“What?” Yosuke gasped.  
“I have everything to hide, in fact, I’m not much better than you. Why do you think Izanagi’s eyes are yellow, why do you think I can use so many personas?” Yuu seemed to draw himself in, “I’m nothing but the masks I wear, When we were on the floor where our personas were our image, mine wasn’t Izanagi, nor was it any of my personas,”  
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Yukiko tried to lay a hand on his arm, but he drew away.  
“All I could see was a mass of shadows, and consumed inside of that mass was me. I could litterarlly feel all of my shadows, my personas, crushing me, and I could not take it.” Yuu was shouting and crying, “Were not so different you know, I am nothing, zero, fitting of this cursed wild card Fool arcana. I am a fool, I don’t deserve friends like them, but here they are anyway!”   
Yuu made a dash for the middle, where Rae hung, “You and I aren’t different, give me a chance to prove it!” and with that Izanagi appeared suddenly above Yuu and slashed the strings holding Rae. She dropped limply, but Yuu was ready and caught her, crashing to the ground under her from the impact. Izanagi swooped down and scooped them up, taking them back to the group.  
“You don’t realise what you’ve just done,” she hissed at him, “I was keeping it from attacking you,” and she passed out in his arms. Yuu turned his head in time to see the puppets casting their respective magics, and the puppeteers now free arm now had a flail in its grasp and was swinging it towards Yosuke. His friends defended each other deftly to cover their weaknesses. He felt a warmth in his chest, despite all he had just said, they still defended him. He didn’t notice the flail hurtling toward him until it was too late. He flew backwards with Rae clutched protectively in his arms. He hit the wall and saw stars until he shook his head and realized the Izanagi had managed to get behind him and took the brunt of the damage.   
“Yuu!” Yosuke called, “You okay?”   
“Ugh, that hit pretty hard, but I think I’m okay,” He called back and added, “I’m gonna protect her until this is over, got it?”  
“We’ve got you covered,” Chie called, Tomoe deftly deflecting the flail with a swift kick.   
“Take care of her and we’ll take care of the rest.” Yukiko cried as she aimed agi at the ice princess puppet. from what Yuu could tell, the puppets were protecting the main entity somewhat though the team could still deal minor damage to it when they got a chance. That is until the puppets morphed into simple puppets with maskes on thier faces and in their hands, the fire one removed the red mask and slipped the yellow one on instead, the blue one swapped out for a green one. after the masks had been reaffixed, they morphed again into a ninja with sparking kunai, and a knight with a wind swept cape. the team attempted to use the tactics from before only to find them not as effective, then when Yosuke attempted magaru, the ninja puppet seemed to get the brunt of the hit. Yuu had an Idea and cast Zio on the knight and found it super effective as well. Chie and Yukiko coordinated a physical attack on the main shadow and dealt a fair amount of damage before the puppets recovered. They chipped away at them like this until one of the puppet’s strings snapped and it went clattering to the ground. after another couple of well placed hits the other went down too. the main entity roared and the masks appeared in each hand respective to the puppet that had previously been there. It donned each in turn, changing its strengths and weaknesses constantly, which while it wore the team down, they had figured out that the colour of the mask corrosponded with the magic it used. It appeared to only have four masks, until the flail got knocked out of its last hand. two more masks appeared, a black and a White one. donning the black one, it cast a spell that looked and felt ominous, as if it was attempting to pull out their souls. Yosuke and Chie managed to avaoid the effects, but the other two collapsed and they didn’t look as if they were breathing. Yosuke dashed over to Yuu, who had fallen backwards, and was somewhat sprawled underneath the girl. He remembered Yuu having a few red beads that he had called revival beads that he had used on Yukiko before. As much as he didn’t like digging through his buddies pockets, he managed to find the revival beads and tossed one to Chie to use on Yukiko.  
“Please work,” Yosuke prayed, and had Jiraya draw Izanagi out of Yuu. Izanagi looked battered and seemed very happy to accept the revival bead that Yosuke offered him. He crushed the bead, kinda like how Yuu summoned his personas and then tossed the dust of it over Yuu.  
Yuu began breathing again and Izanagi looked relieved as he opened his eyes.  
“Mamudo,” Yuu gasped, “That was a dark magic, it can insta-kill,”   
“Dude, it just about insta-killed you!” Yosuke pointed out frantically, “I’m glad you had revival beads…”  
“Those were my last ones…” Yuu hissed, moving into a more comfortable position, with the girl cradled in his lap and Izanagi behind him with a hand against his back.   
“Shit,” Yosuke swore under his breath, “I’ll use Tarakaja one by one on all of us…”  
Yosuke turned to each one of the team members and cast the agility spell on them all, it took some time and distraction from Tomoe, Izanagi, and Konohana, but Yosuke had Equiped them all with the extra agility.  
“Kay guys, this wont last forever, but if we can smack down and avoid any more knockouts on our side, we can beat this!” Yosuke announced and they all went full force on the large shadow.  
It cast Hama on Chie, only to miss and attempted another mamudo, and missed entirely. it realised its disadvantage and went back to the basic magics and put up a decent fight before it was overcome by the four personas. When the large shadow faded, the puppets morphed back into the ghosts they had been before. Rae shuddered and awoke. Yuu assisted her in standing and didn’t let go of her hand as she approached her shadow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed delving into my head, hopefully I won't scare too many of you away.
> 
> Next chapter will feature her recovery as well as her introduction into the Investigation team!
> 
> Comments are definitely welcome and criticisms are too, but nothing mean-spirited please.


	3. Out of the pan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much more normal. Out of the TV world, Rae feels the lasting effects of being in it. Other than that she gets to meet our lovable detectives and get the real low down on what it means to be part of the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keep a look out for more english lessons plus a bonus haiku fact!

“I already knew that you are me, but I guess I was too afraid to let you out in the open. I was afraid you would take over and ruin everything I’ve painstakingly built. I was running away from you because of what happened and I wanted nothing more than to ignore you.” She whispered defeatedly, “I can’t make promises, but I guess the least I could do is start here and when I go back home, maybe I wont have to be so afraid.”  
The two shadows merged together and then vanished in a blue flash which left a card hanging in the air.  
I art thou and thou art I. I am Nyx, a personification of night and shadow, through the elements I take my power and in shadow I hide. I of the Death arcana entreat thy cooperation.  
The person was simply a woman shrouded in a black cloak, only her sly but gentle smile could be seen, but five masks hung around her head, blue, green, yellow, red and the one that hung just over her head was half black and half white. she vanished, leaving only the Death arcana card behind.  
“This is my persona?” Rae whispered, turning the card over in her hand, the other hand still clutched tightly by Yuu and as she faultered and her knees gave out, Yuu caught her and held her. They all nodded and made a mad dash for the portal that had been opened when Rae had been met with her persona.  
As they exited the TV, Rae made note of where they were, “the Junes electronics department?”  
“Uh, yeah, we can explain later, but for now we should get you home so that you can rest.” Yosuke told her gently.  
“First I should go tell my uncle so that he can call off the hunt,” Yuu said.  
“No, I’ll just go home on my own,” Rae said, standing unsteadily, “One of the notes that my caretakers were given was that I was like to run off on my own sometimes, and I’ve only been missing a day right?”  
“Well kind of two, but-” Yukiko said.  
“but nothing, I don’t want any of you getting in trouble because of me,” Rae interrupted, “That TV guy was completely right about me, I do act out somewhat, but mostly just running away and throwing stuff, finances counted somewhat, but the exchange program decided since my marks were excellent, they would allow me to go on the exchange, but they put me, as they explained it, in the town of least consiquence,”  
“What does that even mean?” Yosuke asked.  
“Basically that if I get in trouble here its less likely there will be legal troubles. Here the law enforcement is mostly self-sustaining, unless there is something that threatens the whole nation.” Rae laughed weakly, “Imagine that, a high-schooler causing a national security crisis,”  
“I guess you’re right, just be safe okay?” Chie nodded. They all watched her stumble off, wondering just how bad things were for her.

“I’m home,” Rae called out, trying not to sound like she was feeling,  
“You’re safe!” her Caasan came barrelling into the hallway and quickly hugged her.  
“What happened Rae-chan,” her Tousan asked her.  
“I ran away, I needed to clear my head,” she sighed, “Nothing you guys need to be concerned about.”  
“Oh, but we were so worried for you,” Caasan teared up, “We called the police and everything, I guess we should notify them that you’ve come home.”  
“I’ll give them a call,” Tousan sighed.  
“You want to talk about it dear?” Caasan tried.  
“No, I’m pretty tired, didnt really sleep, and I kind of got lost, otherwise I probably would have been back sooner,” Rae was only somewhat lying, but it seemed her excuse was good enough because Caasan let her go to her room and they left her alone for the rest of the night. Even when dinner had been made, her Tousan knocked on her door, but when she didn’t answer he simply left. She was greatful and tried her best to sleep. she was somewhat glad for the spare jacket she had hidden in the shrubs out front, cause other wise she would have had to explain away her wounds, which she usually did quite easily, but she would rather avoid it. she knew she would have to cover up the bandages when she left the house the next morning for school, but maybe she just wouldn’t and ignore the stares again. 

When morning came, she got up but immediatly made a mad dash to the bathroom and threw up.  
“Rae?, are you okay?” she heard her Caasan just ouside  
“Urgh…” and she heaved as there was nothing in her stomach anyway.  
“Oh dear,” Caasan said, “You must have caught a flu, you can stay home and we’ll call in your abscence,” she heard her shuffle away and then she made her way back to her futon and curled up beneath the blanket. It was as good as an excuse as any to stay home away from prying eyes, maybe that would be best just to rest and take it easy for a few days she thought.  
However, later when she was trying to read a little, she heard the doorbell and shortly after a few sets of feet on the stairs.  
“Rae, the police are here to ask you a few questions, are you okay with that” her Tousan asked through the door.  
She sighed and thought about sending them off, but figured now was as good a time as any, “Yeah, send them in,” She said.  
“Hello, I’m detective Dojima and this here is detective Adachi,” the gruff looking man in a grey shirt and red tie introduced themselves.  
“We, uh, have a few questions to ask if you’re up to it,” the younger one with an unplacably cheery look on his face said.  
“Go ahead, but I can’t say I can really give you anything particularily useful,” Rae told them.  
“You’ve heard about the trouble in this town by now I assume,” Dojima asked.  
“Yeah, its not hard when everybody talks about it,” she shrugged.  
“And you understand that people have been going missing yes,” he progressed.  
“I haven’t heard as much about that, but I think one of my classmates was one of the ones right?” she scratched her head.  
“Yeah, and she was gone just recently too, about as long as you were gone,” Adachi pointed out.  
“Shut up Adachi,” Dojima elbowed the other man, “We just want to ask where you were these past couple of days,”  
“I ran away, I got tired of people talking about that news report, which by the way I never consented to,” Rae told them, “I don’t like being scrutinized so I ran away and got a little lost,”  
“Really, is that all?” Dojima eyed her susiciously,  
“Yeah, if you look into my exchange paperwork, I tend to run away,” Rae grunted angerly, “I went and now I’m back, okay?”  
“Yeah, okay, I can check into it and verify.” Adachi nodded.  
“One more thing, seems my nephew has been acquainted with you, cause he asked about you,” Dojima said sternly.  
“Yeah, he is in my class, him and friends have been helping me with my japanese, and in return I help them with english.”  
“Okay,” he sighed, “thats all I guess,” and they left. Rae sighed and hoped that her story was convincing enough. She wouldnt want to get those kids in trouble, especially since they might actually be her friends. The one kid, Yuu, he was sort of like her, she hoped detective Dojima wouldn’t hold it against him if he was hanging out with some eastern delinquent. She went back to sleep and was really glad she had decided to take some time off, she felt the exhaustion and pain creeping through her and she definitely needed some time to heal. 

The next couple days were quiet, and she didn’t have any more visitors in that time, but around the time school ended she got one.  
“Hey,” Yuu said kinda hesitantly, “How are you doing?”  
“Hey, I’m doing better, healing,” she drew her arms closer.  
“Could I…” he tried, but thought against that immediately, “Nevermind, nothing,”  
“Yeah,” she understood and relaxed a little, “You can sit for a while if you like.”  
after a couple minutes she thought she should ask, “The detective, Dojima I think it was, he’s your uncle right?”  
“Yeah, he probably came and talked to you didn’t he,” Yuu said  
“yeah, I hope I didn’t get you in any trouble, he asked me how I knew you and I mentioned helping you with english,” she said uneasily.  
“No, I figured it would be okay to mention you cause any student would ask about the missing exchange student right?” Yuu shrugged, “Anyway, I think I managed to get it chalked up to general curiosity.”  
“Thats good, your uncle is kinda scary serious,” she said.  
“Yeah kinda, though he isnt as hard as he would seem, he means well at the very least,” he shrugged, “Anyway, I really should take off, I hope you get well enough to come back soon,”  
“Thanks,” Rae smiled a little, “Thanks for caring, and for coming,”  
Yuu smiled warmly before he exited and left her with a faint smile on her face. They had begun to forge a bit of a bond, she felt it in her heart. 

A week later, she returned to school and the kids seemed to have forgotten about her already, to which she was glad. even so she wore her long sleeve shirt to school. Yuu noticed her and waved her over to where him and the rest of the group rested.  
“Hey, you’re back,” Yosuke greeted.  
“How are you doing,” Yukiko asked  
“I’m doing okay,” Rae smiled a little and sat down next to Yuu.  
“Man am I ever glad we got you out of there when we did,” Chie sighed.  
“Yeah, I’m glad we reached you,” Yuu smiled right at her, she blushed a little from his sincere stare.  
“I’m glad too, I’m sorry you guys had to see all those things,” she apologized.  
“That was pretty freaky, you said that was your head right?” Yosuke asked her.  
“Yeah, it’s a scary place sometimes, thats the part you guys saw,” Rae admitted, “Of course That still wasn’t really the worst, and of course the best of it is easy enough to see,”  
“There’s worse?” Chie whispered looking shocked and when Rae nodded, she put a hand on her shoulder, “Well if you ever need to talk, were all here for you,”  
“Thats okay, I kinda ignore it most of the time,” Rae looked a little more grim, “It’s only when I’m alone does it really bother me,”  
“Than that’s it,” Yuu said suddenly, “We can make sure you’re never alone,”  
“Really?” Rae was stunned.  
“Yeah, how about we exchange numbers and then you can talk to me when ever, even if it’s not bout the stuff in your head.” Yuu insisted and dug out his phone. she exchanged hers with him and they put their contact information in before exchanging them back.  
“Dude, smooth,” Yosuke elbowed Yuu playfully, “You seem to like her a heck of a lot,”  
Both Yuu and Rae blushed. Then Rae offered to pass her phone around and soon enough she had five whole numbers in her address book.  
“Thanks guys, really,” Rae said clutching her phone to her chest.  
“What are friends for,” Yukiko said happily. Rae felt the bond from the whole group stretch and embrace her into the warmth of the friendship, imagine that, she had friends. 

“Here we are, our headquarters,” Yosuke said enthusistically after they had all settled around a table at the Junes foodcourt.  
“Seriously?” Rae quirked an eyebrow at him.  
“Uh yeah, its about as good as anywhere, plus its right by our entrance to the TV world, so we can get in easily,” Yosuke explained.  
“obviously you’ve already been in the TV world, but its not all like your part, the parts are primarily determined by the people that get thrown in and the rest looks a bit like a TV station,” Chie chimed in.  
“Yeah, my part was a castle, it was kinda pretty, but still ended up being sinister,” Yukiko explained.  
“So your the other student the detective mentioned,” Rae mused, “Wait a sec, I was thrown in to the TV world, I don’t remember that, all I remember is going to answer a knock at the door and the next thing I knew I woke up in front of that house,”  
“Damn, I guess there is no use in asking you who did it,” Yosuke sighed.  
“Don’t worry about it, I don’t remember either,” Yukiko told her, “All we have to go on at the moment is that the victims seem to be all female and they show up on the midnight channel before they are kidnapped.”  
“The midnight channel comes on at midnight when it rains by the way,” Chie mentioned.  
“Pervert,” Rae said bluntly  
“What?” Yuu looked at her funny,  
“This guy must be a pervert if he only throws in women,” Rae concluded, “Or a masochist,”  
“Well we first thought it was people connected to the first victim, the reporter, cause she died, Saki-san found her body and she was staying at Yukiko’s family’s inn, but you can’t possibly be connected so that kinda discounts that.” Yosuke recounted.  
“This reporters name, what was it again,” she asked.  
“Mayumi Yamano,” Yuu told her.  
“Nope never heard of her, she was local for you guys I’m guessing,” Rae said and they all nodded.  
“she was pretty popular around here especially after the affair scandal,” Yukiko said.  
“So uh, let me just get all this straight,” Rae began, “Some asshole throws innocent, sort of, women into a tv, were they supposedly die then they get found here again. you guys watch this midnight channel and go into the TV willingly to save whom-ever is in there, and when you save them they get a persona?”  
“Pretty much, though the persona only happens if they accept their shadow selves, and otherwise, they die when the fog comes back to our world, or atleast on the last day the fog is supposed to be here, right before more rain.” Yosuke added.  
“wow, uh, so I could have been dead by now?” Rae choked  
“Probably,” Yosuke admitted, “its supposed to rain tonight, so you might as well check out the midnight channel too, see if anybody else has been jacked.”  
They sat quietly until they heard the distant roar of motorcycles, “Ugh, those stupid biker gangs again? I thought that one dude on the news took care of them?” Chie grumbled.  
“That first year?” Yosuke scoffed, “He’s bad news, I heard he beat up the whole gang single handedly and became their leader,”  
“I dunno, Kanji-kun always seemed like a nice kid,” Yukiko said  
“You know him?” Yosuke gasped  
“Yeah, We used to see each other a fair amount when we were younger. His mother runs a textile shop and my mother often went and picked orders up there. He and I would often chat while our mothers did business.” Yukiko sighed, “But lately he has been getting in trouble, his mother gets awfully worried.”  
Rae wondered idly what kind of guy Tatsumi could be to get that kind of reputation. She was curious to meet him, but realised that would be hard considering he was a year lower than her. She was his senpai, she remembered the term, and hoped it was nothing like the anime she had obsessed over made it out to be.

That night she kept an eye on the clock as the soothing sound of the rain washed over her quiet room. She turned to the TV as the seconds ticked down and wondered exactly what was supposed to happen. When her TV switched on by itself she jumped up in surprise, all she could see was a static filled screen with a shadow within it and after a few seconds it switched off again. She turned her TV on, but all that came up was the news channel rerunning the story about the Tatsumi kid. She squinted her eyes and wondered why he seemed familiar before brushing it off as having seen him in the halls or around Inaba somewhere.

“So did you guys see it?” Chie asked the next morning before classes started.  
“Yeah, but didn’t it kinda look like a guy to you?” Yuu said.  
“It did,” Yukiko nodded  
“That doesn’t fit at all though,” Yosuke scowled, “I guess this killer really wants to prove us wrong,”  
“Maybe you guys are just looking at it all wrong,” Rae noted, “There must be some specific pattern to it, cause we know he throws people in when it rains, and they die when its foggy,”  
“I dunno, guess we shouldn’t have jumped on the obvious.” Yosuke admitted sullenly, “That doesn’t change the fact that this guy is an absolute creep,”  
They all nodded and the bell rung for the first class so they all went to their seats.  
King Moron proceded with an oddly informational and insult ridden lecture about poetry. Rae kinda half listened until he called on her.  
“Hey, yeah you, exchange student, can you tell me what so special about haiku poetry?” he called on her pointing  
‘the least you could do is use my name,’ she though before standing to answer, “Its the number of syllables, each line has a specific amount. I think its 7-5-7?”  
“specific amount of syllybles is correct, but your numbers are ass-backwards, its 5-7-5,” he corrected and continued to lecture. Yuu gave you a sympathetic glance, but didn’t dare turn too far, or they would be in real trouble.

“Ugh, how is he even a teacher,” Rae complained after school at Junes.  
“All the school cares about is grades, and he manages to teach well enough to keep a high class average, so they wont fire him,” Yukiko sighed.  
“hah, more like…,” Rae sputtered and stammered, attempting to think of a good word, then comically huffed and went with, “yells well enough,” she grumbled.  
“I’m not sure where you were going with that, but i guess thats close enough,” Yosuke shrugged.  
“second languages are hard…” she frowned, “I bet you couldn’t think of a word in english,”  
“Uh yeah, how about, uh,” it was Yosuke’s turn to hum and ha, “ “Idee-ot” is that right?”  
“No, it’s Idiot, short i sound and the last sound there is -ut, with a short u sound,” she corrected.  
the others laughed, and then Chie tried a sentance, “Mister Morooka is an idiot,”  
“Good one,” Rae nodded and they studied english, in a way, for the next couple hours until they figured it was time to head home.

Since it was raining again, Rae figured maybe she should stay up to check this midnight channel again. Her phone began to ring a few minutes before midnight, it was Chie.  
“Oh hey, leader wanted me to make sure you were gonna watch the midnight channel tonight,” she relayed.  
“Yeah, I figured you guys know what you’re doing, and now that I’m involved I should follow your lead,” Rae confirmed, “Speaking of which, who is the leader?”  
“It’s Yuu, I thought you caught on to that,” Chie seemed to giggle, “Only someone as forward as he is could ever lead such a rag-tag group, not to lower your opinion of us or anything,”  
“Ah, guess that’s why he took the lead in my dungeon there, at least mostly,” Rae mused, “Yosuke must be second in command than,”  
“Kinda yeah, he and Yuu are pretty good friends, not to say we all aren’t, that and he was the second to get his Persona, so it kinda follows a heirarchy like that,” Chie explained.  
“huh, so im bottom of the pole than,” Rae sighed, “Oh well, I guess it’s only fitting, you guys don’t really know me that well.”  
“It’s okay, we will, I hope we get to be great friends, I should hang up, the midnight channel should be coming on any second.” Chie said before hanging up.  
Rae closed her phone and glanced at her clock, before her TV flickered to life. The person on it was most definitely a guy, and she could barely make out the blond hair and the Yasogami high jacket draped over his shoulders. She huffed, sure she knew who this was, but no name came to her. She shrugged and knew the group could tell her tomorrow, until her phone rang again.  
“Hey,” It was Yuu this time, “You saw who it was?”  
“Yeah, some blond guy, looked pretty tough, but I don’t know his name,” Rae said.  
“His name is Kanji Tatsumi, he’s a freshman at our school,” he told her.  
“I guess that would explain the uniform jacket,” she affirmed.  
“Good news is the picture is still blurry, so we can still warn him,” Yuu told her, “We don’t need to start worrying until the picture gets clear, but if we can catch the murderer in the act, than hopefully we can put an end to all this.” Yuu sounded convinced.  
“I dunno, this guy is sneaky,” Rae grumbled, “Let’s do our best,”  
they said goodbye and hung up. Rae sighed as she went to plug her phone into the wall before getting into bed and hopefully sleeping. Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter throws Rae right into it when the seemingly tough guy Kanji gets kidnapped and featured on the midnight channel!
> 
>  
> 
> Thank to all who have been reading, and as always comments=great, hate=/=great.


	4. The Bath House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter we meet Naoto, the boy who seems to have caught the interest of Kanji, the next target. The comical tailing, and empty warnings get no where when Kanji ends up with his own rather embarrassing show on the midnight channel. Through complaints and the steamy bath house, can the team succeed in saving another person from the death that awaits them in the TV?

“This is where he lives,” Yukiko pointed out as they entered a store in the shopping district, “My mother and his mother often do business together. when we were kids, me and Kanji were friends,”  
“You were friends with him?” Yosuke asked, “But he’s such a delinquent,”  
“He didn’t used to be,” Yukiko sighed, than conversed with Kanji’s mother, asking if he was in at all. when she said he wasn’t, they exchanged uneasy glances, but hearing he had only left this morning, gave them hope that they were on time.  
“Hey, isn’t this the scarf we saw in that creepy room?” Chie pointed to a scarf set out on the table.  
“That was a custom order placed by the reporter who died,” Kanji’s mother told them, “She originally ordered two, but only ended up taking the womans scarf.”  
“Yeesh, that’s pretty creepy,” Yosuke hissed through his teeth, “Maybe it is connected,”  
“I still don’t think so,” Yuu concluded, “Rae having been kidnapped threw a wrench in that pattern, and Kanji kills our other thought on it too.”  
“Oh, thats my delivery, excuse me,” Kanji’s mother interjected before bowing and going out back.  
“I guess there isn’t much to help us here for now,” Chie sighed.  
“Well can’t we just, you know, actually talk to Kanji?” Rae said suddenly, “I mean, he is right outside,” she pointed out the front window and they turned to see him talking to a strange boy.  
“I don’t know the boy he’s with, let’s go outside and see what we can hear,” Yosuke waved them along.  
“Yeah, might tell us something useful,” Yuu agreed.

They stood just outside the textile shop and listened to the boy and Kanji talk.  
“That is all my questions for now, But if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to talk to you again, perhaps tomorrow after you are done with your classes?” the boy said.  
“Uh, I guess,” Kanji seemed sheepish, “I would like to see you again too,” a slight blush crossed his face as the other nodded and left. However when he noticed the group hanging around just a few feet off, his gentle expression disappeared.  
“HEY YOU!” he cried out, “What are you punks doing there? Were you listening to us!”  
“Crap, bail!” Yosuke was quick to take off, everyone seemed to follow his lead, except Rae.  
“Yeah we were, so what,” she scoffed, “It’s not like you guys were talking in private, I mean, you can’t expect to not be heard in the middle of the shopping district.”  
“Who the hell are you?” He growled, but not as violently as before  
“I’m Yasogami High’s very own exchange student,” she told him.  
“I heard ‘bout you,” He looked at her curiously, “Some kinda Canadian. Why ain’t you scared of me, I mean all your friends ran off without you,”  
Rae shrugged, “I dunno, you can’t be that bad that your mother cares so much about you,”  
“Huh, you talked to my mom?” He had deflated by now, but of course he seemed to just be course by nature, so he still had an abrasive edge to his voice.  
“I didn’t personally, actually Yukiko did most of the talking, we were just asking her about you,” Rae told him.  
“Why me,” Then he seemed to think a little, “Come to think of it, that kid was asking me questions like that too, like where I go and if weird things are happening,”  
“And have they?” she asked.  
“Nah, everything is pretty same old same old,” He grunted, “I don’t really know why everyone is all of a sudden so interested in a punk like me,”  
“I don’t really have an answer, but be careful okay, could I maybe tag along when you go meet that kid tomorrow, I’m a little curious is all,” Rae bluntly offered.  
“I guess tha’s alrigh’,” Kanji rubbed the back of his head, “Come to think of it, I think he mentioned you,” Rae raised an eyebrow and he elaborated, “Said you ran away or somethin’,”  
“Uh, yeah, and caught a doozy of a flu because of that dumb stunt,” she lied without batting an eye.  
“Okay, I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” he shrugged and headed towards the textile shop, “See you then,” Rae waved briefly before turning and walking in the direction that her friends all ran.

“What the hell, why didn’t you run?” Yosuke jumped at her as she turned a corner to find them.  
“He’s not really that scary,” Rae looked at him curiously, “I just talked with him instead,”  
“He didn’t try to hurt you did he?” Yuu asked.  
“No, as soon as you lot took off, he was all bark, no bite,” she shook her head.  
“As long as you’re okay,” Chie smiled, Yukiko nodded.  
“I’m fine, but it is getting late and I should get home, I don’t wanna worry my parents,” Rae turned to go.  
“See you tomorrow Rae,” they all called as she left.

After school The group was all discussing furtively, but Rae didn’t join them, instead, she went out and waited just inside the gate for Kanji to come out. As she was waiting, she watched the group walk by and position themselves just outside the gate. She was curious, but didn’t really feel like asking cause concerning Kanji, they all acted weird. She watched them chatter quietly before noticing the blond head approach.  
“Hey,” she waved, he looked over.  
“Hey Senpai,” he said formally.  
“Where did that come from?” She asked.  
“Well, I’m only a freshman, and your a junior, so, uh, yeah,” he shrugged.  
“Hello Kanji,” came another voice, “I hope you weren’t waiting long,”  
“Nah, I just got here myself,” he indicated.  
“Oh, and who might this be,” the boy glanced at Rae.  
“Just my Senpai, though I guess I kinda just met her too,” Kanji admitted.  
“Ah, you must be that exchange student,” The boy drew closer and seemed to examine her, “I suppose someone like you would not naturally be afraid of someone like him,” he chuckled and seeing the serious expressions directed his way he added, “no offense intended to either of you of course.”  
“I suppose I deserve that, considering my reputation,” Rae sighed, then added, “My name is Rae Lehner by the way, and what might yours be?”  
“Naoto Shirogane,” he told her before they set off.

“I suppose reputations here really are built upon rumor,” Naoto nodded after asking them a few general questions.  
“Yeah, least I’ve only been here a month or two, you grew up here right Kanji?” Rae said turning to Kanji.  
“Yeah, that shop has been in my family for generations I think,” he huffed a bit and seemed to deflate, “When Mom’s gone, It’ll be mine.” his expression betrayed his inner conflict.  
“Family expectations can be stifling.” Naoto said bluntly.  
“Yeah,” Rae conceded, then out of her peripheral vision noticed someone behind them.  
“Uh,” she said turning a bit. Kanji turned and saw them too.  
“Hey! Are you following us?” He went over to them, visibly bristling, “What do you want?”  
“Oh uh, nothing just a couple of love birds on a stroll,” Yosuke stammered. Rae immediatly planted her head onto her hand.  
“You know them?” Naoto asked seeing her reaction.  
“Unfortunately, yes,” she sighed, “They’re in my class,”  
“Ah, they aren’t really together are they,” Naoto stated, Rae nodded.  
Kanji yelled at them and got pretty agitated at Chie suggesting he was gay, chasing them screaming, “I like Women!”  
“Well I guess that is the end of our conversation,” Naoto turned to Rae, “It was quite nice to make your acquaintance,”  
“I hope we can meet again sometime, you seem way more level headed than anything else,” she said  
“Then I hope you won’t mind my last question then,” Naoto waited for protest, then continued, “You didn’t really run away did you?”  
“What?” she seemed taken aback, “Uh,” she went to protest, but Naoto’s even gaze stopped her short, “No, not really,”  
“Interesting, that was all, I am certain we will meet again,” and with that he left.

What were you doing hanging out with Kanji and that kid?” Yosuke asked her when she found the rest of them at Junes.  
“Well after you guys ditched me, I actually talked to him,” she emphasised, “He’s not a bad kid, even called me Senpai.”  
“Wow, guess he does have manners,” Chie gasped.  
“Yeah cause people with rumors hanging over their heads can’t be polite,” Rae muttered.  
“I suppose you are right,” Yukiko looked a little ashamed, “that TV report did kind of make the wrong impression of him.”  
“Tonight is the last night it rains,” Yuu said out of nowhere. No one seemed to catch his meaning, and they split off for the night.

Tonight, the midnight channel was much different. It featured a very steamy bath house that had a sign reading “men only”. Kanji popped up in nothing but a loin cloth and very suggestively indicated that he was looking for a man to show him the way. Rae cringed and watched as his very bare ass disappeared flamboyantly into the bath house.  
“I think I’m scarred for life, how about you?” Yosuke said after she picked up her phone.  
“Maybe, though it was way over the top,” Rae sighed.  
“I don’t even want to think of going in there.” Yosuke whimpered before hanging up. Rae couldn’t help but shake her head.

“Well, That’s that, we have to go save him,” Chie said with an air of finality.  
“Aww man, can’t I stay back, for moral support, I mean you’ve got Rae now, what do you need me for,” Yosuke chuckled, making excuses.  
“Your coming Yosuke,” Yuu said, “I’m not really that comfortable either, but we need the whole team and that includes you,”  
Yosuke grumbled but didn’t protest further. Yuu really is the leader, thought Rae, she doubted she could pull such a response and win.  
“So uh, newbie here?” Rae waved a bit, “I have no clue what to do,”  
“It’s a little easier if we can show you,” Yukiko told her.  
“You need a weapon though, you good with anything weapon like?” Chie asked.  
“Uh, I have a bow, but I’m not sure if it will be much help since it’s back home…” Rae said half-heartedly.  
“Well lets go quick than,” Yosuke urged, not catching on.  
“I meant home as in across the ocean home,” Rae pointed out to him. Yosuke looked a little stunned as Yukiko cracked up.  
“Lets head to the shopping district than, I’m sure we can get something you can use.” Yuu beckoned her.

They walked away from the weapon shop with a thin long bow.  
“I’ve always wanted to try bare-bow,” Rae mentioned, holding the bow closely in its sock.  
“Bare-bow?” Yuu asked.  
“Oh, uh, it means shooting without any instruments attached to the bow, like a sight or a stabilizer. Though this is a pretty typical longbow, that doesn’t have any attachment mounts on it,” Rae explained and when that didn’t erase his confusion she added, “I’m such an archery nerd, Kinda the only thing I miss from back home, so I guess this will be nice getting to shoot again.” Yuu nodded and they met back up with everyone at Junes.

“Okay, Here we go, be sure to watch for shadows and if you have to, summon your persona,” Yuu told her as they entered the red and black portal marking the entrance.  
“I don’t know how!” She raised her voice.  
“You’ll know how when you need it.” Yuu smiled gently. Rae wasn’t any more encouraged but as they traversed the floor and watched the others call upon their personas, she got a feeling in her heart, a whisper, ‘call upon me and you will always prevail’  
“Nyx!” she called. She stood in form bow down at ease as she reached into her back quiver slashed the arrow downward, smashing the arcana card, before noking the arrow.  
“Garula!” she called out as she drew the arrow back. Nyx appeared behind her and she donned the green mask, as she did, the green fletching burst from the end of the arrow. Rae loosed it at the enemy and the arrow flew with a torrent of wind, knocking this enemy flat.  
“Time for an all out attack!” Yuu called and they each made a flurry of attacks which ended up defeating the enemy.  
“Wow, you already have such strong magic!” Teddie popped out of no where.  
“Where have you been?” Chie asked indignantly.  
“Uh, I thought I would let Sensei teach the new girl,” Teddie seemed to shy away from Rae a bit.  
“Your scared of me?” Rae chuckled, “Wow and nothing even happened to you,”  
“You hurt Sensei and his friends,” Teddie grumbled.  
“Teddie, we’re fine, see,” Yuu told him, “She wasn’t herself, that was simply the nature of her shadow,”  
Teddie glanced at her, “I guess if Sensei says you’re okay, than thats that,”  
They continued and figured out that Nyx knew each of the basal magics in their medium level. as well she knew Tarukaja and Rampage.  
“Guys, its really fucking hot in here, lets go already,” Yosuke whined.  
“Hot indeed,” Rae grinned suggestively at him, to which he jumped back and blushed.  
“Hey, quit that,” He pleaded. Rae rolled her eyes and the girls both laughed. Yuu shot him a sympathetic look but said nothing.  
As more shadows appeared, Yuu and the others jumped into action. before they knew it they were moving again. It really was pretty hot in the dungeon and they were all sweating. having stripped the top layers of thier winter uniform already, they found themselves quickly becoming uncomfortably damp and sticky.  
“Oh, looky what I reeled in,” Kanji’s distorted shadow voice rang out, “Would’nt yall bee more comfortable if you took off all those wet, retstricting clothes,” the voice adopted a sexual purr at the end of the statement.  
“Hell NO!” Chie stamped her foot in protest.  
“Oh sweetie, I wasn’t talking to you,” He droned, “I was talking to those two hunky guys right there,”  
“I think I agree with Chie on this one,” Yosuke yelled, sounding very much he’d like to throw up, “Hell NO!”  
“You’re no fun, guess I’ll have to get this party started myself,” with that a much larger shadow emerged and attacked them.  
This one was pretty tough, but When they realised that magic was really effective, Rae took hold and took shot after shot. Soon enough they had defeated it and could move on. Everyone looked drained and uncomfortable, but Yosuke still looked as if he wanted to hurl.  
“Hey I know this place isn’t exactly great, but we gotta keep going,” Rae tried.  
“Easy for you to say,” Yosuke groaned, “You’re not the one getting hit on,”  
“I dunno bout that, He might have been blatantly hitting on you, but he was still talking to us girls bout the stripping…” She grimaced uneasily.  
“You caught on to something as subtle as that?!” Yu gasped a bit.  
“Yeah, I’ve been kinda good at picking up on peoples reactions to me,” She sighed, “It helps me blend in better,”  
“Blend in?” Chie asked.  
“Yeah, I’ve never been good at being social outside of my little group of friends, so I learned to simply pick up on peoples behaviors to get me through social situations.” Rae explained.  
They all looked surprised, but at the Shadow Kanji’s laugh, they pressed on.  
They managed to get up to the top floor, and behind the doors was an uncomfortable Kanji and his scantily clad Shadow.  
“Girls are so cruel,” the shadow shot a look at the girls as they entered, “All they do is gossip and say horrible things about people. I much prefer men,” it paused to turn completely around and step toward Yu and Yosuke, “Men are so much simpler, and way more chill,”  
“Hey what the hell!” Kanji yelled, “Why are you saying all that shit looking like me!?”  
“Because I am you honey, and its time to face the facts, Girls are scary monsters, and Men, Shining knights for my own pleasure,” The Shadow shot back at Kanji.  
“No, that isn’t true, I don’t think stupid things like that,” Kanji gritted his teeth.  
“Hahaha, say it again you freak, say it again,” It goaded.  
“YOU’RE NOT ME!” Kanji roared before the Shadow became engulfed in darkness. Kanji got blown back by it and ended up cracking his head on one of the baths. Rae was the first to move, followed by Yukiko.  
“That’s blood,” Rae noticed as she lifted his head a little. Yukiko nodded and cast Dia. It didn’t close the wound completely, but enough that they could defend him without having to worry about him bleeding out.  
“Watch out guys there are three of them,” Teddie alerted. and indeed there were. Kanji’s shadow was a hulking figure holding a couple mars symbols, his face was a bed of roses with the Kanji-Shadow perched within them. the other two were still muscular but they were smaller and had a mirrored black and white split colouration. They had expressions that they were just as flamboyant as the shadow self was.  
“I am the shadow, the true self, and I have nothing to hide, so take your best shot.” The shadow taunted. Rae jumped up as Chie went in with Tomoe for a powerful kick, which seemed to do little. Yukiko, finished with Kanji, whipped around and cast Maragi, Which missed Shadow Kanji completely, was blocked by one of the body builders, but knocked the other one flat on its ass.  
Yu and Yosuke teamed up on Shadow Kanji with lightning and wind, The upright body builder intercepted Yosukes attack with a wink. Yu’s attack connected, but Kanji’s Shadow only laughed and wiggled around like it tickled.  
“Now now, Don’t all pile on at once,” He giggled, helping the floored body builder to it’s feet, “It’s my turn now,” He cast Mazionga and it hit them all, particularily Yosuke, who got knocked flat.  
“Yosuke!” Yukiko cried out as she shook off the shock and dashed over to help him.  
the fire resistant body builder stepped into her path and hit her hard. This time Chie called out. The body builder that was weak to fire stepped in this time and casually shook off the bufu she sent it’s way. It returned the attack and grabbed her.  
“Girls are so troublesome and fericous, but evidently not that clever,” Shadow Kanji purred.  
“Think again,” Rae chuckled from behind him, where she stood in front of the real Kanji. She drew her arrow, summoning her persona and fired off two arrows in quick succession,a Agilao, and a Bufula, at the body builders. she chose right because both went down.  
Shadow Kanji gasped and turned to her, “How dare you knock around my eye-candy,” he huffed before throwing an electric attack her way. It hit and she obviously felt it, but she stood her ground. Yu quickly switched his persona and used a wind attack on Shadow Kanji, hoping to distract it while his friends got up. It worked, but the body builders got up as well. This time, Chie and Yukiko teamed up and fired their respective magics at the right ones and knocked them back down. Yosuke seemed pretty beat up still but after Yuu tossed him a medicine, he joined the fray and tried to land a few more hits.  
“That’s it, You have all earned a one way ticket to oblivion, and not the kind I was willing to give you before,” Shadow Kanji growled as the team managed to take down the body builders, leaving him very much undefended.  
“It’s your own fault for stereotyping everyone, including yourself,” Rae flipped back, still defending Kanji who had just recently re-awoken, quite dazed and still very appalled at his own shadow.  
“What do you know,” Shadow Kanji sneered, “I doubt you know anything about what people are like,”  
“Quite the opposite, I’m very well versed in knowing what people are. True most people are cruel and phobic of anything unusual, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find anybody who will accept who you are.” She turned to the real Kanji, “But you’re never gonna find anybody if you don’t go looking, you have to make the effort to shed the masks and allow people to see the real you,”  
Both selves looked perplexed, but the shadow immediatly became angry and launched a targeted physical attack on Rae. It hit her and she took critical damage, which sent her back and knocked her prone.  
“You think you’re so tough and manly, but your nothing but petty words and feminine distraction,” He snarled. His focus was trained on Rae, which gave the others a chance to attack and bring him down. Yosuke managed to land a critical hit of his own thanks to Chie’s Revolution.  
“Okay guys, lets finish this,” Yu called out and they went for an all out attack. the four friends pounded on the shadow with everything they had until it was again engulfed in a shadowy aura. This time it reverted back to its original form, and looked much less confident and sexual.  
Kanji pushed himself up, “I was wrong to deny you, I guess I really don’t know what people are like,” he glanced at Rae who was still down, but no longer prone, “I guess all I was really ‘fraid of was being rejected. I like to sew and make cute things, but I’m big and look tough.”  
Rae eased herself up, “Why not be both,” she said with a wince, she knew she would need plenty of healing spells before they left.  
“I never thought of that, people always made fun of me for the one part and ignored the other, so I made that my mask,” He sighed and turned back to his shadow, “You are me dammit, mostly, I knew you were there all along, I just learned to try and suppress you cause people are mean, not just girls.” With that, kanji’s shadow took on a blue light and became a persona, a robot looking hulk painted like a skeleton and holding a big lightning bolt. It told him it’s name and re-entered his heart. After he did that, he strode over to Rae and offered her his hand, “Honestly you’re the first person in a while who’s met me and not been intimidated by my looks,” He looked a little sheepish, “I really appreciate that, y’know,” at that, he wobbled a bit, and she reach out a hand to steady him.  
“No trouble, I kinda have to thank you too, apart from these guys, you’re the only one who didn’t chide me for running away, even if that wasn’t what really happened,” Rae felt the healing spell flow through her, but noticed that the group gave them a little space.  
“‘ts fine, I can’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind, though I suppose it would worry my ma less than all the fights,” He admitted.  
“Well I think for now we should both get out of here, I think were all a little beaten,” she glanced over at the others, noticing the little scraps and bruises scattered over their bodies. They supported each other as they left, though it looked a little odd seeing as Kanji was at least a head taller than she was. But she didn’t complain, He actually seemed like a new friend, along with the others, who she was slowly coming to trust.  
“So you sew?” Rae asked as they came to the main entrance.  
“Yeah, growing up in a textile shop kinda makes that happen,” He smiled a bit, “When I first began making little stuffed animals from scratch my ma was so proud and wanted to sell them in the shop, but when kids started picking on me, I asked her to take them down.”  
“Thats rough, I don’t really have any special skills like that, my mother, the one back home, is a homemaker and my dad works with computers at a university.” She sighed, “I don’t have a generation carried shop or skill to hold on to like you do.”  
“Then you can make your own name than, make your own legacy,” Kanji encouraged, “Your pretty good with that bow, maybe that could be it.”  
“Nah, I’m not really that good, competitions stress me out and really, for a professional archer, the Olympics is the ultimate goal.” Rae groaned.  
“Your still a highschooler, so you have plenty ‘a time to figure this stuff out,” Kanji nodded, “You can do it Senpai, I know it.  
They exited the TV after carefully making sure no one was around, then Rae took Kanji home. His mother was ecstatic and hugged Rae asking where she found him. She told her that she had found him wandering around further down the river from the main flood plain. That was the story she stuck with and made sure to let the others know what the story was, so they wouldn’t go claiming they had found him. especially since the detective seemed to be getting more suspicious of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter, I think, but next up we get to the fun of the school camping trip shenanigans as well as the arrival of someone new.
> 
> Comments are welcome, just keep things civil.
> 
> Forgive the un edited verison, if there are any glaring mistakes(aka something that makes it hard to read) feel free to point them out so I can fix them, I'll come back and fix spelling and such at a later date.

**Author's Note:**

> So there it is, I'm sure you can see where this is going if you have played the game. This is probably one of the tamest and most awkwardly written chapters, I hope they get better as they go. This one is kinda short, and likely the next one will be really long, best not to expect too much consistancy for length of chapters.
> 
> Criticism is welcome, and of course happy comments are welcome too! No bashing please :3


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